Mini-medical school programs decrease perceived barriers of pursuing medical careers among underrepresented minority high school students.

Context: The percent of underrepresented minority (URM) students who apply to medical school has changed minimally in the past 40 years. Due to the lack of URM applicants, the consequent matriculation of URMs is grossly disproportionate from their percent representation of the US population. Increasing diversity among medical students and physicians has previously been identified as essential to decreasing healthcare disparities among US minorities.

CD8+ T cell-independent tumor regression induced by Fc-OX40L and therapeutic vaccination in a mouse model of glioma.

Despite the growing number of preclinical and clinical trials focused on immunotherapy for the treatment of malignant gliomas, the prognosis for this disease remains grim. Although some promising advances have been made, the immune response stimulated as a result of immunotherapeutic protocols has been inefficient at complete tumor elimination, primarily due to our lack of understanding of the necessary effector functions of the immune system. We previously demonstrated that a tumor lysate vaccine/Fc-OX40L therapy is capable of inducing enhanced survival and tumor elimination in the GL261 mouse glioma model.

An in vivo immunotherapy screen of costimulatory molecules identifies Fc-OX40L as a potent reagent for the treatment of established murine gliomas.

Purpose: We tested the combination of a tumor lysate vaccine with a panel of costimulatory molecules to identify an immunotherapeutic approach capable of curing established murine gliomas.

Experimental Design: Glioma-bearing mice were primed with a tumor lysate vaccine, followed by systemic administration of the following costimulatory ligands: OX40L, CD80, 4-1BBL, and GITRL, which were fused to the Fc portion of human immunoglobulin. Lymphocytes and mRNA were purified from the brain tumor site for immune monitoring studies.

9-Amino acridine pharmacokinetics, brain distribution, and in vitro/in vivo efficacy against malignant glioma.

Purpose: The delivery of drugs to the brain is a major obstacle in the design and development of useful treatments for malignant glioma. Previous studies by our laboratory have identified a series of 9-amino acridine compounds that block the catalytic cycle of topoisomerase II resulting in apoptosis and cell death in a variety of cancer cell lines.

Methods: This study reports the in vitro and in vivo activity of two promising lead compounds, [{9-[2-(1H-Indol-3-yl)-ethylamino]-acridin-4-yl}-(4-methyl-piperazin-1-yl)-methanone (1) and [9-(1-Benzyl-piperidin-4-ylamino)-acridin-3-yl]-(4-methyl-piperazin-1-yl)-methanone] (2), using an orthotopic glioblastoma mouse model.